Friday, September 14, 2012

The 80/20 Rule Doesn't Work...

...when that 20% is bad enough to COMPLETELY cancel out the 80%!

Or when it becomes 70/30, 60/40... well you get the idea.

So this summer I started out doing amazing with my New Rules of Lifting for Women program, I was fitting in my size 6 jeans, and in general I felt pretty good in my bikini. 80/20 rule was going well, my weekdays were on point and I wasn't going too overboard on the weekends so I was maintaining where I wanted to be.

Then come July, work started getting busy, I did some traveling, I did stuff with my boyfriend in the middle of the week, etc. So 80/20 started to slip and my weekdays were getting worse and my weekends even more so. To the point where in August I got sick for an entire week (no gym at all), travelled even more and only got 2-3 workouts in a week. DEFINITELY not enough to cancel out my weekends.

So, it's back to basics. The result of my 60/40, 50/50, whatever problems was a 5 pound weight gain (UGH!) and my size 6 jeans not fitting at all at the moment. I didn't notice it that much because I wear dresses all summer and I was enjoying myself (a little too much I think). Now that it's just about Fall, I would like my pants and tops to fit properly, and even look awesome, so things have got to change.

I know what works, I've done this whole thing several times over. I can finally see the results of my heavy weight lifting program that I started back in February. It's very empowering to be hauling around 100 lb barbells like it's nothing (well, sort of, haha) and I have some defined arm and back muscles. I'm a regular fixture in the weight section of the gym and people have been commenting on my progress. Now that I've reached that point, I think it's time to balance it out with more cardio. I still have more fat loss to go, my beautiful muscles that I've worked so hard on are hiding underneath the fat!!! What's the point of that?? I want to fit in those size 6 jeans! I want the scale to go back to 155-157! And most importantly, I don't want to erase what I have worked really hard for in the last 2 1/2 years.

If I want to look at it positively, exactly 2 years ago this month I reached 160 lbs for the first time in my adult life, and I've kept it there since. I was even around 150 for a while before I took up the weight training instead of killing myself with cardio. I know I can get myself there, it's just going to require cutting back on all the cheating that I've allowed myself. I can still have beer, but when you throw in a hamburger and onion rings it's just really over the top. I only have 2 stages left in my New Rules program and I would love to have some impressive after photos. Right now my stomach is bigger than I would like so I've got more work to do.

My goal in the next few weeks is to get down to under 160 lbs again. I also want to finish Stage 6 of the NROLFW by time I leave for a week in Colorado on Sunday, Oct 7th. My birthday/anniversary with my boyfriend is on October 22nd and I want to look my best!

1 comment:

Hello - I ran across your blog when I was searching for NROLFW results. I'm almost done with phase 1, I have one workout left for each set. I might finish this week if I don't slack off. I'm lifting a lot more than I ever would have without the book, but my eating has been sucking lately and I'm tring to motivate myself to eat better so I can get better results. It doesn't help that I also haven't been running much the past 3 months after training for a 1/2 marathon. But I really need to get back on the wagon and lose the last 8 pounds (6 on a good day!). Did you finish the entire workout? How did it turn out for you?

Also I live in Woodbridge, VA - not too far from you. =)

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and I'd love to hear how you finished NROLFW and what you thought of it at the end.

About Me

I'm a 25 year old mechanical engineer that designs and builds satellites. And using a fabulous website called myfitnesspal.com, I managed to lose 60 lbs. That's the size of a nanosatellite! I would cost approximately $600,000 less to launch me into space with 60 lbs less of weight on me (not that I'm getting shot to the moon any time soon!). But, I've picked up a lot of knowledge along the way, more than I learned in college from Physics and Calculus class. Some challenges are worth pursuing, this was one of the best ones I ever went for... and I've been as successful as the Apollo program (without the moon rocks to show for it.)